The present invention relates to waste processing machines, and more specifically to waste processing machines for processing wood such as brush, branches, and the like.
A variety of machines have been developed to recycle, reduce, or otherwise process wood and brush products. Included therein are machines that chip, cut, grind, or otherwise reduce waste (wood) products including, generally, chippers (disk and drum types), hammer mills, hogs, shredders, grinders, and forestry mowers.
These waste processing machines and systems typically include an infeed system and a waste reducing system, wherein the infeed system is used for directing the waste material to the waste reducing system, the waste reducing system being used for reducing the waste material. Examples of such a waste processing machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,931, issued Jan. 25, 2005, to Smith, entitled “Multi-Functional Tool Assembly For Processing Tool of Waste Processing Machine” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
It is also known to provide a wood chipper for chipping wood such as brush, branches, and the like to produce wood chips. An example of such a wood chipper is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,539 to Morey which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In these known systems, the wood chipper generally includes an infeed assembly, feed wheel assembly, and a cutting assembly having a rotatable disc or drum with at least one knife or blade for chipping the wood entering the wood chipper and reducing it to wood chips. The chipper also includes a discharge chute for allowing the wood chips to exit the wood chipper, as well as for generally directing them during discharge. Typically, the feed wheel assembly includes: a stationary lower feed wheel, connected to a lower housing; a movable upper feed wheel, connected to an upper housing, and movable relative to the lower housing for allowing wood to enter the cutting assembly. The wood chipper also includes an engine connected to a hydraulic pump, which pumps fluid to drive hydraulic motors to rotate the feed wheels.
Other examples of such wood chippers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,707 to Morey et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,125 to Morey et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,855 to Morey; U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,539 to Morey; U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,642 to Morey; U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,596 to Morey; U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,684 to Morey; U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,204 to Morey; U.S. Pat. No. 7,121,488 to Marriott et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,320 to Morey et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,955,310 to Morey, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
In these prior art systems, while the internal combustion engine offers many known advantages, these prior art engines also suffer from several problems. As most existing systems are powered by either gasoline or diesel engines, and as the costs and known problems associated with petroleum powered products increase, so to do the problems associated with the operation of these waste machines. For example, the disadvantages of these known systems include, inter alia, emissions, noise; reliance on volatile fuel products, and consumption.
Additionally, it is not practical to power these machines only when the reducing operation is needed or takes place as these waste machines require additional energy and time in which to place the machine into the running or at-speed mode (e.g., to place the machine in or obtain the desired operational characteristics). As such, it is not practical to shut these machines down during the interim periods of time when the reduction systems are not being utilized to reduce bulk wood products, but the overall reduction process is still required. For example, between reduction runs and when gathering material to be reduced. At these times, in most applications, these machines remain powered and are thereby consuming resources even though the actual reduction operation is not occurring. Hence, these machines remain on or powered, thereby using energy, during periods of time when the machine is not being used to actually reduce waste products. Further, during this ramp up period a substantial portion of the energy used goes into powering up or ramping up the various operating systems of the machine (e.g., the cutting head) and the power required to initiate and fully power up these various systems can be substantially more (higher) than the power required to maintain them at the desired operational level(s). That is to say that the initial or start up energy or power consumption (e.g., load) of the machine is generally higher than the energy or power consumption (e.g., load) of the machine when running at the desired rate (i.e., running at speed).
Further, these machines consume more energy when the demand on the machine is high, than they do at other times of operation (e.g., when not under load or processing). For example, when the demand on the cutting head is high, as when reducing heavy loads, the power consumption of the machine may increase or spike. As such, the power sources (e.g., engines, drives, etc.) for these machines must be able to output a higher load in order to ensure that the system is capable of operating during these high demand cycles. Hence, a larger power source is required even though the machine, generally, only requires this higher capability during higher demand cycles. Therefore, a higher powered drive (e.g., a higher Horse Power (HP) motor or drive) is required even though during the majority of operational time a lower powered drive would be acceptable. As larger power sources typically requires more energy to operate, the result is that by sizing the power source to meet peak demand (as opposed to a lower requirement: for example, typical demand), more energy is used to power the larger power source at all times. To wit, more energy is required by the larger engine even when no demand is placed on the machine. Therefore, more energy is used at all times of operation, even though the demand for the higher output is only required intermittently. Yet further, these higher powered engines are typically also noisier, costlier to fix and maintain, and more difficult to repair than their smaller counterparts. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide novel systems and methods for these waste machines that overcome the existing disadvantages.
Accordingly, a need exists for novel systems and methods which have, among other advantages, the ability to allow for the use of reduced sized power sources; the ability to utilize, harness, capture, and recycle energy during periods of reduced or low load, as well as the ability to provide additional power during periods of higher demand loads. Therefore, a waste processing machine and methods thereof that solve the aforementioned disadvantages and having the aforementioned advantages is desired.